Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Here is the video for Alpha Wolf--made for my by the amazing Sandra who does all of my videos. If anyone would like her contact info to make videos let me know! Anyway, I just thought I'd give you all a taste of Alpha Wolf this morning!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Monday, December 27, 2010

Hello everyone!! Welcome to Day #2 of my being stuck in the house. Well, not just me...it also includes my husband, my mother-in-law, and my 3 children (boys) under 6 years of age. I know we are lucky and blessed. We have power and food and HEAT.

But I can't help but feel a little bit of disappointment as my two older boys were supposed to take a ski lesson today, their first, which would have been great along with my husband (who was raised in Louisiana) and was going to embrace our winter sport!

The problem is not so much the older two. They can amuse each other with their new Christmas toys, we will take them outside sledding once we get moving. But the baby gets stir crazy (he is 15 months old and while he is cruising has not taken the first 'real' steps yet...neither did his oldest brother until he was about this age.) and it becomes really, really difficult to be stuck in the house with him without even the ability to go to to the grocery store or to visit my mom.

As we were stuck indoors yesterday with him, this will be day 2 o Rebecca Takes On The Entertainment Of The Baby Adventure.

All of this is compounded by the fact that my muse has come to play and would like to really be non-stop writing my Work In Progress.

But what am I going to do? We have almost 2 feet of snow and that doesn't count the drifts, which continue. We had hurricane force winds last night and although they came twice with snow plows the road and our driveway don't look like they've been worked on at all.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Today I spent some time reading Initiation. The final version had been sent to me in PDF and I sat down to read the whole thing again. I actually started to cry because I knew what was going to happen to the heroine and she didn't know.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

When we came home last night after having a wonderful dinner with my parents, we were feeling no pain. Really good food combined with great wine and even better company had us feeling on top of the world at 10:45 PM.

That is until we stepped in the house and discovered we had no heat. Earlier in the day I'd had the Boiler serviced and for some reason one of the two pilot lights had gone out and would not relight. We ended up having to call someone to come and fix the heat. He arrived at midnight.

To say that we are exhausted would be an understatement but we really felt that given that children are so little we couldn't leave them here in the house as it got colder and colder all night long.

We've been told that given that the boiler is over twenty some odd years old that pieces of it are starting to break and sooner rather than later we are going to have to replace it.

Great. (Yes, that is sarcasm you hear in my writing.)

My mind is tired so I will probably not even make an attempt to write today.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Yesterday was a great day. It was my husband's birthday and my 3 year old had a holiday show at his nursery school before his school shut down for vacation until the new year.

In the morning, I got up and ran out the door to buy a dozen bagels for my son's holiday show. I wanted to get a dozen plain bagels but by the time I got there (think 7:15 AM) they had sold out of plain bagels. Apparently someone had come in and bought 6 dozen plain before I got there. This irritated the heck out of me when they told me it was going to be another ten minutes before they had any more plain baked. I ended up buying a bunch of other types of bagels and truthfully I don't think anyone minded at the show.

Then I rushed home and the kids and I gave my husband his birthday gift (a stock pot he wanted) before we all ran out the door to do our morning routine. My mother came with us to the holiday show, which we all loved since its very rare that she's in town to see these little things. My son froze like a deer in headlights when it was time to do the show but it was really cute and I enjoyed being there. He's proud of himself like he'd stolen the show and I'm thrilled for him.

Later that night, we had dinner with my parents and my husband's mom before we all had cake. It was a really fun day and I think my husband enjoyed his birthday even though he had to work.

As far as writing goes I have been a little slow this week, which is okay. I just finished a major writing endeavor and its possible that my muse just needs a few days to breathe. But I continue to write the next Westervelt book and I'm feeling good about things.

Time for me to get moving this morning--I do have 3 children who might like to see their mother.

Monday, December 13, 2010

So in keeping with the theme of holiday traditions, I got to go friday night to see The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, which is a holiday tradition for my friend Jessica. She goes with her family every year. Except, this year her family couldn't attend, which meant that her other friend Walter and I got to step in and have a fabulous evening. (Thank you Jess!)

The evening began with really good food at restaurant, a dart uptown as we realized what time it was, a run through Lincoln Center, before we arrived at the Nutcracker. The show was superb. The first half, I thought, went faster than the second half but the dancing was amazing in both hours.

We had a great time and I was so touched to join Jess in her yearly viewing of the Nutcracker. It was an incredible night and I'll never forget it!

The three of us outside (it was cold!) Lincoln Center after the performance.

I tried to take a shot of the Nutcracker Sign. I didn't get the whole thing...not much of a photographer, I'm afraid.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

So for this weeks Six Sentence Sunday I'm giving you the last taste of the sequel to Initiation, my Young Adult series. This is from the last chapter in the book and as I've stopped new writing on it. Next week I'll be on to something new.

Here it is, from the last chapter.

I bent down until I was at his eye level.“Dad? If you do this for me, I won’t ever ask you to participate again. Do you understand? This will be the last time, the last thing you ever have to do for me.”

He raised his eyes to mine.I knew he loved me—as much as a broken man who’d never been put back together correctly could—and I wasn’t surprised when he nodded his head.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

If you're just happening upon my blog today, then welcome. I am part of a Holiday Blog Rush. The picture above is of my husband and I by the tree at Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. I live very close to NYC and my husband and I are trying to create memories for the kids that involve visiting the city because to me that is what the holidays are about--tradition and family.

I love being a writer and I'm fortunate beyond belief to be allowed to do what I do every day. So although this is a brief post for the blog hop today, I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you to all of you out there who stop by today and who have stopped by in the past. It's because of you that I get to live my dream every day.

Friday, December 10, 2010

I finished my Work In Progress. Well, the new writing anyway. What will I do now? Several chapters from the work are in the hands of my writing partner (who also writes YA and is incredibly super talented) and when she's had a chance to point out to me all the things I can't see in my own writing (thank goodness) then I will take the work and do one large edit. When that is finished I may or may not send the book out to another author friend who can Beta read it for me. At that point, when its gotten the 'go ahead' I will submit the work to the publisher for consideration.

Its a long process but it works for me.

In the meantime, I have new writing to do on the next Westervelt Wolves book.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

I think that sometimes it is nice to be a tourist in your own area. We don't do it enough because we get really busy. But last Saturday night we were able to go have dinner with dear friends, Roy and Meaghan, and then walk around New York City for a while seeing all the Holiday stuff that the tourists come to NYC to see but the locals, because of the traffic and crowds, often stay away from. I tried to take pictures of the whole thing. It was really, really cold and I took most of the pictures as we walked around so they're not all wonderful. Also, I'd like to thank Roy and Meaghan for being such good sports with my camera antics! (captions are below the pictures and Blogger gave me a hard time so the order is all over the place.) And just in case you've never been to NYC, these places are not all next door to one another. They're not huge distances but we walked quite a bit in the cold night air. It was really fun.

I couldn't stop thinking of the song from the musical Annie with the lyrics: "Until it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building!"

The tree at Rockefeller Plaza

Our friends, Roy and Meaghan, in front of the tree

Ralph and I in front of the tree

A shot of the tree as we approached it.

I thought this was awesome. They built a Kate Spade bubble store outside of Bryant Park. I do love Kate Spade...It was very hot inside.

A shot of Bryant Park

A good picture of the tree at Bryant Park

The tree and the fountain at Bryant Park. There is also an ice skating rink I didn't get a good shot of because of the crowd.

The front of Macy's!

This is the view when you come out of Macy's on 34th street. I just love NYC in the winter (well all year) so I took this shot.

People were driving around giving away Chanukah candles and celebrating the holiday. Above is the Mitzvah Mobile.

Inside of Macy's, which was so dressed up for the holiday. It was 10 PM at night and the store was packed and beautiful.

Roy and Meaghan being really good sports when I insisted on taking all these photos!

The Macy's sign!

This is Ralph (my DH) and myself in front of the windows at Macys on 34th. This year the windows, which were all AMAZING (they moved and changed), depicted the movie Miracle on 34th Street. We loved looking at them.

Again, Ralph and I in front of one of the windows.

Is there a Santa Claus? And then the words keep changing. It was really cool.

This was the the scene of what Macy's looked like as we approached.

This is the madness of Time Square around the Holidays

So that was my saturday night and why New York City features so frequently in my writing.

Monday, December 6, 2010

So, I’m pleased to say that my book was not the only Hanukah Romance released yesterday. My good friend, Sandra Sookoo, had one released as well. Hers is called The Eighth Night

Take a look!

Blurb:Who says Christmas is the only holiday in town?

After removing himself from family gatherings and his mother’s domineering influence for years, Eli Goodman finds himself once again drawn into the chaos that is his home life. One afternoon, on a spur of the moment decision, he decides to bring the pretty cashier from the local MegaMart to his mother’s house for their annual eight day Hanukkah celebration. At the very least, it will shock and temporarily quiet his mother's pestering. But Brooke is more than she seems and he will soon find himself thinking of the hard-working orphan in ways he never imagined.

Brooke has recently decided she’d like to shove Christmas and its materialism into her cash drawer.Yearning for something more from life, she takes a chance and accepts an invitation to dinner from a customer in her register line.What she finds with his interfering and warm family could very well be the missing element she’s searched for, not to mention Eli is the sexiest guy she’s seen in a long time.If the light of the Hanukkah candles bring them together, she could be the first person in modern history to see what Judah Macabee wears under his tunic.

Excerpt of Chapter One

And So It Begins

The insistent ringing of his cellphone shattered the peaceful stillness of the pre-dawn hour. With a groan, Eli Goodman rolled over, ignoring the noise.

The cacophony continued, possibly with more vigor, which could only mean one thing.

His mother was on the other end of the line and if he didn't answer, the whole of the Indianapolis area would hear her scream of frustration.

Damn. "Ugh!"

Scrabbling for the phone, he moved his hand over the bedside table until his fingers closed over the device then he pressed the green button. "Ma? What's wrong?"

Diane Goodman clicked her tongue and the sound went straight through him, just as it had during his formative years. "Why do you always assume catastrophe is imminent when I call?"

"Because it's five AM on Saturday and I have blessed little to do, so why else would you call?" He sank into the warm nest of his pillows and blankets, keeping his eyes closed in case the call would be short and he could regain sleep.

"Ah, my life is now complete. My only son has decided to mock me at the start of the Festival of Lights. What have I done to deserve this? My only goal on this Earth was to make my children happy, and this is how you repay me."

Oy. My mother the martyr. Being the youngest of five, and the only male to boot, it came as no surprise to listen to the speech his parent had undoubtedly trademarked with the government or at the very least, every synagogue in the tri-state area.

"Sorry, Ma. What do you need that will make your life the pinnacle of success?"

"You, at the community center this morning at nine for rehearsal. I know you've forgotten."

"What?" His eyes flew open as cold dread shot down his spine. He sat, rubbing a hand through his thick curls, one of the many attributes his female relatives said made him worthy of a Hollywood movie. "What are you talking about?"

She blew a breath and he could well imagine the eye roll that probably accompanied it. "I volunteered you to stand in as the Maccabee in the play, of course. I thought it would be a good way for you to reconnect with the family and your community. You don't come to temple anymore." Guilt was heavy in her voice. "You rarely come home for a meal either. If I didn't give birth to you myself, I would swear you weren't my son."

Pregnant silence followed, most likely in the hopes that he would think about what he was inflicting on his poor, harried mother.

Eli switched on the lamp and blinked at the sudden brightness. "Ma, I'm not doing the play. I'm not a ten year old you can push around anymore. Besides, your friends ogle me when I wear that outfit." He shuddered to think of the short tunic that bared his legs and sandals that did nothing to cover the skin.

"So, now you're ashamed of your body or is it my friends?" More tongue clicking. "I labored for twenty-two hours with you, young man. Doesn't that deserve respect?"

As if he were suddenly transported back to pre-puberty days, his stomach hurt from his mother's words. She could guilt a cat into opening its own can of food.

"No, Ma. It's just I'm not sure how I feel about our faith. The whole thing is so ... overbearing." Thinking about the intensive family gathering gave him cold chills and sweats, much like the flu. And the endless questions from countless aunts regarding his single status.

Oh, the humanity.

"You listen to me, Elijah Goodman. I refuse to be embarrassed by not having you, my only son, at the celebration this year. You'll do this and you'll like it. I am telling the family you'll be in the play on the Sixth Night. Do not disappoint me."

He stared sullenly at his bureau, knowing that no matter what he did, he would always disappoint her. "But--"

"But nothing. Stop by the house tonight and you can tell me how everything went. Bring ice and potatoes. Dinner's at six sharp. Don't be late."

The dead air on the other end of the line brooked no arguments and felt as cold as Diane's unblinking stare.

Eli threw the phone down and slumped against the pillows as a headache loomed.

His mother, the bully, pushed every member of the family around until they did what she wanted out of sheer exhaustion. His life was no exception. Heaven only knew how many women he'd gone out with during recent years thanks to her meddling and constant haranguing about his lack of marital success.

And now this. The annual re-telling of the Maccabee story with its prerequisite fight scene. Usually, one of his uncles filled the role, but this year his mother had most likely finagled and reordered the cast so that he, Eli, got the supposed honor of the lead. How long had it been since he'd stepped foot into the community center let alone the synagogue? Too long to own up to. Probably since this time last year.

The family legacy and attachments turned him from the religion as much as the stuffiness and saga of it all, but in the Goodman family, personal preferences didn't matter when Hanukkah came around. You either put up or shut up and listened to countless versions of the same stories the family had told since he was a little boy--only now the participants in the tales were braver, larger and more dangerous.

Eli rubbed a hand along his jaw. The next eight days would last an eternity.

I am so pleased to announce that my Vampire Hanukah story has been released today by Silver Publishing. It can be purchased here.

Here is a blurb:

Ruth has been a vampire for sixty-five years after being assaulted by a vampire during World War II while her family hid from the Nazis. One night, she is drawn to a house where they are celebrating Hanukkah and the candles are burning in the window. There, she meets a man, Benjamin Fox, who is immune to her vampire charms. Ben is thirty-five years old and dying of a heart problem he's had since he was a child.

Together, they will form a friendship that could be so much more if either could allow it. But when Ben is about to succumb to his illness, Ruth must decide whether to give in to his wishes and make him a vampire too. She is, he's decided, his ultimate Hanukkah gift.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

So, today my baby who is 14 months old, will be having a surgery on his ears. They put tubes in the ears to help the fluid drain. He has been getting a lot of ear infections and the fluid doesn't drain between infections. It's finally reached the point where we have to address it. One of his older brothers had this surgery and the other one had his tonsils/adenoids removed. Clearly, we've spent some time doing this type of thing before.

But it never gets easier for me. Never.

To make matters worse, we have to be at the surgery at 9 AM and he is not allowed to eat/drink anything before hand. Ever tried to tell a 14 month old they can't eat?

So that is where I am. And Why I am Sure I won't be doing much of anything else today.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I had a ton of stuff to do yesterday, and I did very little of it. Why? Marjorie M. Liu's new book in the Dirk and Steele series came out and since i'd pre-ordered it, it arrived magically on my Kindle.